On His Blindness / Milton
"On His Blindness" is the popular title of a well-known sonnet by John Milton. On His Blindness When I consider how my light is spent E're half my days, in this dark world and wide, And that one Talent which is death to hide, Lodg'd with me useless, though my Soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present My true account, least he returning chide, Doth God exact day-labour, light deny'd, I fondly ask; But patience to prevent That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need Either man's work or his own gifts, who best Bear his milde yoak, they serve him best, his State Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed And post o'er Land and Ocean without rest: They also serve who only stand and waite. Background The sonnet was first published in Milton's 1673 Poems. In his autograph notebook (known as the "Trinity Manuscript" from its location in the Wren Library of Trinity College, Cambridge), Milton gave the sonnet the number 19, but in the published book it was numbered 16 (see Kelley, 1956;Kelley, M. (1956). Milton's later sonnets and the Cambridge manuscript. Modem Philology, 54, 20-25. Revard, 2009,Revard, S.P. (Ed.), (2009). John Milton: Collected shorter poems. Chichester, UK: Wiley ( ) p. 569), so both numbers are in use for it. It is popularly given the title On His Blindness, but there is no evidence that Milton used this title; it was assigned a century later by Thomas Newton in his 1761 edition of Milton's poetry,Newton, T. (1761). The poetical works of John Milton: with notes of various authors (3 vols.). London: J. and R. Tonson. as was commonly done at the time by editors of posthumous collections (Ferry, 1996, p. 18Ferry, A. The title to the poem. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press ( )). It is always assumed that the poem was written after the publication of Milton's 1645 Poems. It may have been written as early as 1652, although most scholars believe it was composed sometime between June and October 1655, when Milton's blindness was essentially complete. However, most discussions of the dating depend on the assumption that Newton's title reflects Milton's intentions, which may not be true. More reliable evidence of the date of the poem comes from the fact that it appears in the "Trinity Manuscript", which is believed to contain material written between about 1631 and 1659 (see Revard, 2009, p. 543); and that, unlike earlier material in the Trinity manuscript, it is not written in Milton's own handwriting, but that of a scribe, who also wrote out several other of the sonnets to which Milton assigned higher numbers (Shawcross, 1959J.T. Shawcross, "Notes on Milton's amanuenses," Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 58 (1959), 29-38.). Haskin (1994) discusses some of the likely interpretative errors that readers have made as a result of assuming that the common title of the poem is authentic. For example, the "one talent" that Milton mourns his inability to use is not necessarily his poetic ability; it might as easily be his ability to translate texts from foreign languages, the task for which he was responsible in the Commonwealth government. However, the references to light and darkness in the poem make it virtually certain that Milton's blindness was at least a secondary theme.D. Haskin, Milton's burden of interpretation. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8122-3281-X.) Synopsis The poem refers to the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30.David V. Urban, "The Talented Mr. Milton: A Parabolic Laborer and His Identity" in Milton Studies, Volume 43, Albert C. Labriola (ed.), Univ of Pittsburgh Press, 2004, ISBN 082294216X, pp. 1-18. In that parable, a man going on a journey entrusts one of his servants with 5 talents (coins), another with 2, and a third with just one. The first use their talents to engage in trade, and double their money, while the third merely buries his. On his return, the master praises the first two servants while condemning the last. Milton worries that, being blind and unable to write, he is burying his talent (the pun is intentional), squandering the gift God gave him. However, he tells himself to be patient and wait. He is still serving God in waiting for the opportunity to use his talent. In this case, Milton's faith was justified, as he did conceive of a way to compose poetry though blind (composing it in his head and dictating it to his daughters), and went on to write his major epics (Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained) after becoming totally blind. Recognition "On His Blindness" appears in the Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900.Arthur Quiller-Couch ed.,Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900, Bartleby.com, Web, Aug. 8, 2011 The last line is particularly well-known and often quoted, though rarely in context. See also *Other poems by Milton References External links ;Audio / video *On His Blindness at YouTube ;About *On His Blindness: A study guide at Cummings Study Guides *On His Blindness summary at Enotes.com *On His Blindness: Summary, theme, and analysis at Study.com Category:Works by John Milton Category:Text of poem Category:17th-century poems Category:English poems Category:Sonnets Category:Christian poetry